Class Teacher

Mrs Lavender-Mitchell

Welcome to Summer Term 2025 in Ringgold Class

We have a lot of exciting, new learning planned for the summer term. Here is a peep inside our curriculum.

This first half term in English, the children will be continuing to explore The Whale by Ethan and Vita Murrow. The work we have covered on this picture book will help us to write a film proposal in which we will use inference to explain the characters’ interactions and plot the rollercoaster of emotions as the story unfolds.

We will then follow this with some work by an incredible children’s author – Michael Morpurgo. We will begin by reading Beowulf (which links to our history learning – more on this later). This will result in the children writing their own heroic epic tale, using poetic devices.

In the second half of the summer term we will continue with Beowulf and then lead into Kaspar, Prince of Cats. This will lead to the children creating a range of fiction and non-fiction writing, including letter writing, narrative writing an alternative ending, newspaper articles, recounts and researching The Titanic and its voyage.

Mathematics will see us cover the final Year 5 units. This will include geometry as we look at shape and position and direction. Our number work will involve furthering our understanding of decimals and negative numbers. We will also cover measuring, which will involve converting units and measuring volume.

In science, we will continue to develop our knowledge of the properties and changes of materials. We will look at thermal conductivity as well as electrical conductors and insulators.  In the second half-term we will revisit the unit of living things and their habitats, looking at the reproduction of birds, reptiles and amphibians. Finally, we will explore how our bodies change as we grow and develop.  

In history, we will travel back to the time of the Anglo-Saxons, looking at who they were and where they travelled from. We will explore their religion and daily life. We will look in detail at the artefacts discovered at Sutton Hoo and find out details about King Alfred the Great. This will then lead into the Battle of Maldon, focussing on what happened to local Anglo-Saxons when the Viking longships sailed up the River Blackwater!

RE studies this term will ask the class to consider this key question – why should we be good? The children will look at this through a variety of faiths, including Humanist.

Computing will see the children creating vector drawings, using online tools. They will learn how to create layers and manipulate objects whilst thinking about the skills a graphic designer may use. They will then revisit programming, further developing their understanding of micro:bits.

The music term begins with the children developing their understanding of ‘Sound Ingredients’. They will practise singing in rounds, whilst keeping a melody. They will then learn about major and minor chords and aim to finish the term by composing a melody.

In DT this term we will be focussing on food and considering seasonality when planning a meal. We will design and make our own pizzas, using vegetables which we hope to grow in the school garden! Once we have established which vegetables we should be able to grow and planted them, we will turn our attention towards art. We will be improving our sketching skills through sketching Anglo-Saxon artefacts. We will also use the medium of clay and create our own Anglo-Saxon stone carving.  We will finish the term with harvesting our crops and making our own pizzas – delicious!

In PSHE, the class will look at keeping themselves safe and what to do in an emergency. They will consider the responsibilities they have to keep themselves safe and consider the risks associated with unsafe behaviours. Finally, we will cover the RSE part of the curriculum, considering the changes the body goes through during puberty (a separate letter will cover these details).

In Spanish in the first half-term the children will learn the names of different sports, frequency adverbs and time adverbials and the negative form. They will then go onto to study musical styles and instruments and learn to give reasons why they like/dislike something.

Our PE days are on Thursday and Friday. The class will develop their tennis skills and rounders skills followed by cricket and orienteering.